ALAPPUZHA : The Mavelikkara Additional District Session Court-I found the Ranjith Sreenivas murder a rarest of the rare case after the prosecution argued that the SDPI-PDF activists had prepared a hit list to spread hatred among the people and between different communities. The evidence presented prompted the court to award death sentences to all the accused.
Public Prosecutor Prathap G Padickal said the court accepted all findings of the prosecution, as reflected in the judgment.
“The murderers committed the crime in front of the victim’s mother, wife and daughter. Nine of the accused broke into the house and hacked Ranjith to death. They mutilated his body with swords. At the time, three of the accused stood guard outside the house and three others on the road. They had prepared a list which the investigation officers dug out. So the prosecution presented in the court that the murder was a pre-planned one and not merely in retaliation to the murder of SDPI leader K S Shan a day earlier. The court considered these points,” Prathap said.
The hit list, which included the name of Ranjith, found on the mobile phone belonging to the third accused, Anoop, turned out to be crucial in proving the case and the role of the PFI-SDPI men.
Ranjith’s wife Lisha said the judgment comes as a relief.
“The accused mutilated his face brutally and it prevented us from performing funeral rituals like ‘vaykkari idal’. His demise is a huge loss to our family,” Lisha said. His mother, Vinodhini, said the court has served the family justice.